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Lady Bugs!

 Garden is going great! I fixed our second mess of super tender fresh green beans and made some fresh salsa with some cilantro from the garden.
 Something has been chomping on my cabbages so I decided to try some lady bugs. Not sure what the pest is so not sure the lady bugs are the correct solution, but the kids had a great time releasing them. If the lady bugs don't help I may try some Praying Mantids next. The company I got the lady bugs from sells them as well and apparently they will eat anything smaller than themselves. Their cuteness factor is not nearly as high though.
 Releasing the lady bugs. We did this part wrong. I didn't read the directions til after. We were supposed to spray the plants lightly with water so they could have a drink. Also we got 1500. They recommended releasing about 500 each day over several days. Lady bugs that weren't released right away could be stored in the fridge. I hope some stayed in the garden. Next time we'll know.



Another organic pest control tip: diatomatious earth. It is great for killing ant beds and squash bugs. Just don't breath it, get it in your eyes or on your skin because it can be an irritant. It takes about 24 hours to kill pests and there is no down time for harvest. Just be sure to thoroughly was the produce if it still has the earth on it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Arg! I am so behind on my garden. Still just sprouts. and despite planting a second set of yellow pear tomato seeds, nothing has come up. : ( I admit it, I a-bomb with 7dust. I got no problem with chemicals on my plants! ha!
brittany
June 5, 2015 at 11:26 AM
bee said…
Such wonderful times with the garden. Some of my most fun memories of summer was planting the garden. I sure miss that. Not sure if I will ever have a place to garden like we did in Bloomfield. Lots of work, but oh so good when you pick and eat. Never did the lady bug thing. I lived in the days of pesticides. ha Glad you can go organic.
June 7, 2015 at 3:30 PM
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